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Episode 126 – “The War Machines” – Part Four

When last we saw the Doctor, he was facing off against a war machine…solo!

“Here I stand. I can do no other.”

The war machine backs off rather quickly rather than attack the Doctor. Instead it just sits there making some really weird, really annoying noises.

We then cut to a news reader talking about the emergency and doing so with refreshing honesty. He actually relays information about what’s really happening. This is nearly unprecedented for a science fiction TV series!

One of the deprogrammed “bad guys” gets brought to meet the Doctor. He has no real memories of what happened, which is probably a bit of a kindness.

So one of the war machines is now wandering around downtown London wreaking all sorts of havoc, as one does. He starts to formulate a plan to stop it, as Ben goes looking for Polly, who has gone to turn herself in to WOTAN for failing to stop Ben from escaping.

I still don’t quite understand why taking down this thing is so difficult. Again, they look quite fragile. I’m pretty sure a tank could make short work of it. Even if WOTAN somehow prevented the tank from firing, it could easily run the thing over. But instead we go to some elaborate plan where the Doctor wants to capture it using a magnetic field.

Once it stops, the Doctor goes over to it and tampers, shutting the thing down. He has plans for it, as we see when we get a close-up of the war machine moving at high speed toward WOTAN’s base. It’s moving really fast judging by the background. Far faster than it moves at any other point. Like comically fast. It’s quite odd.

Once at the base, the war machine destroys WOTAN, and kills the one of the two innocent scientists, rather quickly. The other one snaps out of it, and deserves an award for the levels of surprise the he’s able to convey.

With WOTAN destroyed, the war machines come to a stop. All is well, and the Doctor gets ready to high-tail it out. He goes to the TARDIS to wait for Dodo, but instead Ben and Polly show up bringing a message. Dodo has decided to stay in London, and won’t be coming back to the TARDIS.

And that’s how one of the companions leaves the series. She just sort of wanders off mid-story and never comes back. To say this is disrespectful is something of an understatement.

Anyhow, Ben and Polly end up getting into the TARDIS and fly away, and with that the Doctor gets two new companions to keep him happy!